W3L2 - 2 to 7 years – Development of “Tools” for Thought Flashcards
Background information of early and middle childhood - Body
- Growth: 6 cm per year
- Weight: 2.25 kg per year
- Muscle mass and Strength: Increase; baby fat decreases
- Boys have a greater number of muscle cells and are typically stronger than girls
Development of Gross Motor Skills
- Smoother and more coordinated
Boys usually outperform girls
Development of Fine Motor Skills
- Improvement during middle childhood due to myelination of the central nervous system
Girls usually outperform boys on fine motor skills
Background information of Exercise and Sport in growth
Involvement in daily sport in US schools decreased from 80% (1969) to 20% (1999)
> Contributes to low activity and obesity in children
What are some problems with obesity in children
Overweight child risk factor for adult obesity
Medical: Pulmonary problems, diabetes, high blood pressure
Psychological: Low self-esteem, depression, exclusion from peer groups
What are the conservation tasks
Numbers (dots spread out)
Volume (liquid in 2 containers)
Mass (Flatten)
What are the elements of concrete operations
C (on) C (re) TE + SD
- ) Decline in Egocentricism
- ) Decentration + Reversibility = Conservation
- ) Transformations
- ) Classification
- ) Seriation
- ) Deductive reasoning
What is element of concrete operation 1: decline in egocentric-ism
Differentiation of one’s own perspective from the perspectives of others: (own thoughts and feelings are not necessarily shared by others)
What is element of concrete operation 3: transformations
Ability to think and reason about change processes.
What is element of concrete operation 4: classification
Multiple classification: ability to classify objects as belonging to two or more categories at the same time.
What is element of concrete operation 5: seriation
Ability to sort by size
What is element of concrete operation 6: deductive reasoning
Draw logical inference on 2 pieces of information
What did Piaget Lack. Context.
Piaget showed that children had undeveloped cognition but he looked at abstract ideas as an index (tasks such as beaker are not contextualized)
What are 2 nonlinguistic symbols in children
- Using Symbols as Information
2. Drawing
Children non linguistic symbol 1: Using symbols as information
Involves mastery of symbolic creations of others and creation of new symbolic representations
(e.g. maps: dual representation of map as a real object and a symbol of something)
What does the scale model task in children demonstrate
Dual Representation (2.5yo fail; 3 yo ok)
Asked to use a scale model to locate a hidden toy in a room.
What is the caveat of scale model task
Not necessary to form a symbol-referent relationship between the model and the room
(children were led to believe that the room had been shrunk)
Children non linguistic symbol 2: Drawing
- Common symbolic activity
- Children’s artistic ideas often outstrip their motor and planning (cognitive) capability
Children non linguistic symbol 2: Drawing (Tadpole)
Representation of humans. Universal & common.
Children non linguistic symbol 2: Drawing (Houses)
This child’s drawing relies on some well-practiced strategies, but the child has not yet worked out how to represent complex spatial relationships
Children non linguistic symbol 2: Drawing (Extraordinary)
Nadia good drawing at 4, gone by 25.
What are the 3 categories children normally sort into
- ) Inanimate objects
- ) People
- ) Living Things
How do children form categories:
- Figure out how things in the word are related to one another is by dividing objects into CATEGORY HIERARCHIES.
What are category hierarchies. (Subtypes)
- ) Super-ordinate
- ) Basic
- ) Subordinate
When do infants form categories. And How?
- First months.
- Perceptual categorization: Similar appearances.
- Often categorizations are based on parts of objects rather then on the object as a whole (color, size)
2 yo infants forming category: how?
- ) Overall shape
- ) Basis of function, and can use their knowledge of categories to determine which actions go with which type of objects
What are trends in an infant’s ability to form categories
- ) Understanding of category hierarchies
- ) Understanding of causal connections
Both involve knowledge of relations among categories
Which category do infants learn first
Basic. (Superordinate: No common characteristics; Subordinate: Hard to discriminate)
What category do sometimes infants form
Child-Basic Category, between basic and sub-ordinate
“things that roll instead of balls” > usually with assistance from adults, infants form sub and superordinate
How does causal inference help in categoires
Helps children learn and remember new categories.
E.g: Hearing that “wugs” are well prepared to fight and “gillies” to flee helped preschoolers categorize novel pictures like these as “wugs” or “gillies.”
Do infants have imaginary friends?
63% of children at ages 3-4 and again at 7-8 had imaginary friends (ordinary/fanciful)
What affects infants’ imaginary friend;
- Not associated with personality or intelligence
- Associated with first-born/only children/ little TV/ verbally skillful/ advance ToM
What are infants’ knowledge of living things
Demonstrate a variety of immature beliefs and types of reasoning.
(e. g. plants and animals serve a purpose)
(e. g. <5: humans are animals?)
(e. g. <7-9: plants are alive?)
What are infants’ knowledge of people vs non people
9- and 12-month-olds show surprise when inanimate objects (robot) move on their own
> Understood self-produced motion is characteristic of living things
How do examine biological processes knowledge in infants
Preschooolers understand that biological processes differ from psychological and physical ones.
The extent of preschoolers’ understanding of biological processes can be understood by examining their ideas about inheritance, growth and illness
infant’s knowledge of Inheritance
Preschoolers know physical characteristics tend to be passed on from parent to offspring,
(At times their belief in inheritance is too strong, and they deny the influence of the environment )
infant’s knowledge of Growth, Illness, Healing
- Growth is a product of internal processes.
- Plants and animals, unlike inanimate objects, have internal processes that allow them to heal.
- Limits of recuperative processes and understand that illness and old age can cause death.
infant’s knowledge of Heriability. What is the infant’s view
Essentialism, the view that living things have an essence inside them that makes them what they are
What is the difference between nativisits and empiricists
Nativists: We are born with a biology module (evolutionary)
Empiricists: Biological understanding comes from personal observations and information they receive from other people and their culture
